An MR sensor detects magnetic field signals through the resistance changes of a magnetoresistive element, fabricated of a magnetic material, as a function of the strength and direction of magnetic flux being sensed by the element. The conventional MR sensor operates on the basis of the anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) effect in which a component of the element resistance varies as the square of the cosine of the angle between the magnetization in the element and the direction of sense or bias current flow through the element.
MR sensors have application in magnetic recording systems because recorded data can be read from a magnetic medium when the external magnetic field from the recorded magnetic medium (the signal field) causes a change in the direction of magnetization in an MR read head. This in turn causes a change in electrical resistance in the MR read head and a corresponding change in the sensed current or voltage.
A different and more pronounced magnetoresistance, called giant magnetoresistance (GMR), has been observed in a variety of magnetic multilayered structures, the essential feature being at least two ferromagnetic metal layers separated by a nonferromagnetic metal layer. This GMR effect has been found in a variety of systems, such as Fe/Cr or Co/Cu multilayers exhibiting strong antiferromagnetic coupling of the ferromagnetic layers, as well as in essentially uncoupled layered structures in which the magnetization orientation in one of the two ferromagnetic layers is fixed or pinned. The physical origin is the same in all types of GMR structures: the application of an external magnetic field causes a variation in the relative orientation of the magnetizations of neighboring ferromagnetic layers. This in turn causes a change in the spin-dependent scattering of conduction electrons and thus the electrical resistance of the structure. The resistance of the structure thus changes as the relative alignment of the magnetizations of the ferromagnetic layers changes.
A particularly useful application of GMR is a sandwich structure comprising two essentially uncoupled ferromagnetic layers separated by a nonmagnetic metallic spacer layer in which the magnetization of one of the ferromagnetic layers is "pinned". The pinning may be achieved by depositing the ferromagnetic layer to be pinned onto an antiferromagnetic layer, such as an iron-manganese (Fe-Mn) layer, to create an interfacial exchange coupling between the two layers. The spin structure of the antiferromagnetic layer can be aligned along a desired direction (in the plane of the layer) by heating beyond the "blocking" temperature of the antiferromagnetic layer and cooling in the presence of a magnetic field. The blocking temperature is the temperature at which exchange anisotropy vanishes because the local anisotropy of the antiferromagnetic layer, which decreases with temperature, has become too small to anchor the antiferromagnetic spins to the crystallographic lattice. The unpinned or "free" ferromagnetic layer may also have the magnetization of its extensions (those portions of the free layer on either side of the central active sensing region) also fixed, but in a direction perpendicular to the magnetization of the pinned layer so that only the magnetization of the free-layer central active region is free to rotate in the presence of an external field. The magnetization in the free-layer extensions may be fixed by longitudinal hard biasing or exchange coupling to an antiferromagnetic layer. However, if exchange coupling is used the antiferromagnetic material is different from the antiferromagnetic material used to pin the pinned layer, and is typically nickel-manganese (Ni-Mn). This resulting structure is called a "spin valve" (SV) MR sensor. In a SV sensor only the free ferromagnetic layer is free to rotate in the presence of an external magnetic field. U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,513, assigned to IBM, discloses a SV sensor in which at least one of the ferromagnetic layers is of cobalt or a cobalt alloy, and in which the magnetizations of the two ferromagnetic layers are maintained substantially perpendicular to each other at zero externally applied magnetic field by exchange coupling of the pinned ferromagnetic layer to an antiferromagnetic layer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,590, also assigned to IBM, discloses a basic SV sensor wherein the free layer is a continuous film having a central active region and end regions. The end regions of the free layer are exchange biased by exchange coupling to one type of antiferromagnetic material, and the pinned layer is pinned by exchange coupling to a different type of antiferromagnetic material.
SV sensors are a replacement for conventional MR sensors based on the AMR effect. They have special potential for use as external magnetic field sensors, such as in anti-lock braking systems, and as read heads in magnetic recording systems, such as in rigid disk drives. However, the SV sensor, which is typically fabricated by depositing an antiferromagnetic layer of Fe-Mn onto the ferromagnetic pinned layer of cobalt (Co) or permalloy (Ni-Fe), suffers from the problem that the range of blocking temperature for this interface is relatively low, i.e., it extends only from approximately 130 deg. C. to approximately 160 deg. C. These temperatures can be reached by certain thermal effects during operation of the disk drive, such as an increase in the ambient temperature inside the drive, heating of the SV sensor due to the bias current, and rapid heating of the SV sensor due to the head carrier contacting asperities on the disk. In addition, during assembly of the disk drive the SV sensor can be heated by current resulting from an electrostatic discharge. If any of these thermal effects cause the SV sensor to exceed the antiferromagnet's blocking temperature the magnetization of the pinned layer will no longer be pinned in the desired direction. This will lead to a change in the SV sensor's response to an externally applied magnetic field, and thus to errors in data read back from the disk.
What is needed is a recovery system and process to reset the magnetization of the SV sensor's pinned layer to the desired orientation with minimal changes in the SV sensor's magnetoresistive response.